Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a secure dynamic address resolution and communication protocol, and related systems, methods, and devices for mitigating network vulnerabilities. Specifically, the present invention provides for the secure and local name resolution and communication between devices connected to one another over any available network using a proprietary communications protocol, wherein the devices can resolve each other's addresses directly without the use of a third party domain name and/or mail exchange system, even upon network or device(s) changes.
Description of the Related Art
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, and various devices and resources connected to a network such as the Internet or other network. Most prominently, a DNS translates domain names to numerical IP addresses so devices can communicate with each other via their domain names, which are more easily memorized by humans as compared to a series of numeric numbers. In other words, DNS functions as the Internet's primary directory service, much like a telephone book, for associating a name (e.g., domain.com) to a numeric Internet Protocol (IP) address (e.g., 1.23.45.678).
DNS is used in various application layer communications such as in web communication or email communication. In web communication, such as via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) protocol, a web URL such as http://www.domain.xyz can therefore be resolved to a numeric IP address 1.23.45.678, such that a user may access a remote web server and website via a standard web browser. In email communication, such as those carried by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the “domain.xyz” portion of a “user@domain.xyz” email address is resolved via a DNS in order to retrieve a mail exchanger (MX) record of the host, so that a message can properly reach its intended destination.
Unlike a telephone book directory, a central DNS directory can be updated quickly in the event of server changes or hardware changes, without affecting end users. That is, an important function of DNS today is its central role in distributed Internet services such as in cloud services or in content delivery networks. The key advantage is that unlike a phone book, different users can simultaneously resolve different translations of the same domain name, to different a proximal servers that provide faster response times to the end users.
However, major fallbacks of the DNS system are primarily related to security concerns. For example, one susceptibility of a third party or public DNS system is the subversion of a resolution query, in that a DNS may be hijacked or redirected to an unintended host. In web communication, an unaware user may be redirected to a malicious website mirroring a real website, which may then “phish” or misappropriate that user's information such as login credentials and other user information. In email communication, a transmitted message may be redirected to a dummy host in order to intercept that message. Such DNS hijacking may be performed when a computer's TCP/IP configurations are overwritten to point to a rogue DNS server under the control of an attacker, or through modifying behaviors of a trusted DNS server to create such a noncompliant resolution or redirect.
Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for a secure dynamic address resolution and communication protocol, which provides additional security in address resolution, while remaining backwards compatible with modern communication protocols in one embodiment.